Title: Mission Family Reunion
Pairing: Tony x Ziva
Rating: (soon to be) M
Authors note: This is my first Tiva fanfic. I have some pretty good ideas for where I wanna take this story, so I have a good feeling about it, and I look very much forward to adding more chapters. It will get more interesting along the way, and there will also come some fluff and smut – come on, you know you want it x3
Oh, and please review 3 it makes me happy~
Enjoy! ^^
Chapter 1: A "teeny-tiny" favour
The week started out as any other when Special Agent Gibbs' team arrived at their desks on a relatively hot Monday morning in July.
Their boss was the first to arrive, soon followed by Ziva and McGee who met each other in the NCIS parking lot and took the elevator up together before sitting down at their desks.
A couple of minutes past 8, Gibbs went for coffee, and as a surprise to no one, that was when Tony tried to, very hastily, sneak into the bullpen and sit down at his desk and pretend that he almost wasn't late.
Ziva glanced up from her screen when Tony slipped past her.
"You are late. You think that is a good way to start a new week, yes?"
Tony glared at her for a second or two before simply changing his expression to a 1000-watt smile.
"Well... No, but my guest stayed over till this morning, and I got a bit... Delayed. And well.. I don't think there's that big a difference in spending the first bit of Monday morning with ones date and spending the last part of ones Friday like that. Is there Zee-vah?" he replied
Despite the obvious irritated look in her eyes as she realised what he was referring to, a smile flickered across her face as she tilted her head slightly to the side and replied
"I would have to say that the difference is, that since I did it at the week's end, I did not get headslapped"
"Well Ziva, that is why I chose to walk in here just as Gibbs left, to avoid gett-"
He was cut off as Gibbs' hand made contact with the back of his head.
"Nggh... 'Morning Boss" he winced and looked at Gibbs with an apologetic face.
"How nice of you to join us, DiNozzo. Just a heads up: if I ever find out again that you come to work late because of a reason like that, I'll transfer you to the North Pole and have all your belongings including your clothes burned beforehand"
"Got it, Boss"
As Gibbs turned his attention to the report on his desk, Ziva sent her co-worker a smile filled with malicious satisfaction before she too turned her attention to a report on her desk.
The rest of the morning and up until 2 'O clock in the afternoon continued to progress like any other day, but that all changed, at least for Tony, when his phone started ringing.
He picked up, and answered cheerfully "This is Very-Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, how can I help you?" but instantly froze when the man in the other end replied.
"Junior, it's been a while. How are you?"
"Hi... Dad.. I'm fine. Why are you calling?"
"Can't I just call to hear how my son is doing?"
"So nothing is up then?"
"Well... I didn't say that. The thing is..."
There it is, Tony thought as his dad continued.
"Next weekend is our family reunion weekend, as you surely must remember - despite the fact that you didn't attend last year. Anyway... Since we haven't really talked lately, I thought I should call to talk it over with you. We won't be the entire family this year, and I won't be there from the beginning of the weekend, but I expect you to be. We are all very exited to see this mystery girl of yours that you've been keeping all to yourself for almost a year now as well. Be a good sport, and bring her along, allright, Junior? All your cousins' partners will be there too"
"I..."
Tony had no good excuse and no prepared smart answers for a situation like this, and he was very well aware that that was exactly what his dad wanted to accomplish by contacting him out of the blue with no heads up like that. He sighed.
"Sure dad..."
"Sounds great. Looking forward to seeing you. Remember, this year, it's your Uncle Ben's turn to be the host, so it'll be at his beach house in Malibu. I already told him to expect your arrival during the evening Friday."
"Sure..." Tony repeated and added "See you" before he hung up.
He sighed deeply and rested his forehead in the palms of his hands as he irritated let his fingers run through his hair in slight frustration. When he heard a little whistle from his partners desk, he looked up at her, but found no eyecontact as her eyes were still focused on the screen of her computer.
"Wow.. That was some mood cracker" she said, still not making eye contact with him.
"Breaker" Tony corrected.
She looked up from the screen to him.
"Excuse me?"
"Not a mood cracker - a mood breaker, Ziva. A cracker is something you eat."
"Whatever. What was that mood breaker then?"
"I don't wanna talk about it" he simply replied.
She glared at him for a bit before letting her eyes return to the computerscreen.
When the workday came to an end for the team, it was about 10 'O clock in the evening.
When Ziva said goodbye to her co-workers and walked towards the elevator, Tony grabbed his backpack and decided to follow her to the parking lot. He quickly slipped into the elevator as the doors were closing.
They stood next to each other in silence, and Ziva looked at him out of the corner of her eye, sensing some tension from him, but he merely continued to stare at the floor and seemed very concentrated on it. When the doors opened and she walked out into the parking lot towards her car, Tony wanted to follow her, but instead he almost shouted out
"Ziva, wait!"
She turned around to look at him.
"Yes?"
"Can I... Talk to you for a bit?"
"You are doing so now, I believe."
"Right. Umm... You know... About that phonecall I got today. It was my dad. He called to insist that I come to the annual family reunion this weekend. I didn't attend last year, but well... Looks like I have no choice this time. And the thing is..." He fidgeted a bit before continuing
"Remember how I agreed to do your paperwork last Friday so you could get off early to have dinner with some guy?"
She nodded and thought of how he had referred to it in the morning, and gave him a "where are you going with this"-look
"Well... Everyone attending that family reunion, my uncle, dad, cousins, they all have partners, and I've kinda led them to believe that I've got one too. So I was wondering.. Well.. I would like to ask you to please help me out? Just that one weekend."
"Help you out? Pretending to be your... Partner... Girlfriend, yes?" She asked, obviously slightly confused about the meaning of the word "partner" in this context.
In slight panic of being turned down immediately, Tony quickly added
"Of course, me doing your paperwork one day doesn't nearly count for as much as an entire weekend of pretending to be my girlfriend. But I would of course pay for your ticket back and forth, and my uncle does live in a house on the beach in Malibu. You might not find it that horrible. Please Ziva.." he begged.
The cogwheels in Zivas head were obviously turning as she considered whether to help him or not.
"You don't have any other possibilities?" she asked
He shook his head in response and added
"I need someone with skills so to speak - someone smart and funny, someone I would actually be able to spend an entire weekend with as well as make my family believe in the whole thing. Besides.. I wouldn't just drag anyone along to meet my family."
"You are right, Tony. Listening to you for three days straight is definitely something which requires skills."
"Hey!" he protested with a sulk when she giggled.
"I guess I could help you out" she decided.
"Thank you so much, Ziva! I'll let you know the details later then, if that's okay with you?"
She nodded and gave him a small smile as she said "But you owe me another day where you do my paperwork now, I hope you know that... See you tomorrow, Tony" and turned around and walked towards her car.
When she reached it, he called after her again.
"Hey Ziva!"
"What?"
"... Thanks again"
Then he walked to his own car, unaware of the sweet smile that lingered on Zivas lips as she started her car and left the parking lot.
End of chapter 1
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